Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House

Agatha has shaved her legs...and is on the trail of a new mystery in a Haunted House!! Of yea..this is a good one. Agatha is searching for clues and the love of her life...she does better with the clues. You will enjoy this series.

In this, the 14th volume of the long running AGATHA RAISIN series we find the quiet little Cotswold village of Carsely in the midst of a dismal spring. Agatha's ex-husband, James, has sold his cottage, leaving the village, and Agatha, for good. The new owner though is a handsome man and of the right age for Agatha, too bad he is married - not that that minor detail had discouraged the other ladies of the village from persuing him. Soon he and Agatha find themselves sharing a common interest in mystery, first investigating a local haunted house and then in pursuit of a murderer. As always with this series the mystery aspect takes a definite backseat to the on going saga that is Agatha's life, particularly her love life. Those who have read pervious volumes in this series of gentle cozys will be delighted to see what the village has been up to lately but those in search of a truly puzzling who-done-it will need to look further. This series will appeal to those who are fans of Christie's Miss Marple, or Beaton's other series, Hamish Macbeth. Cozy fans who are new to this series will probably want to start at the beginning of the series.

AGATHA RAISIN AND THE HAUNTED HOUSE is the fourteenth book in this mystery series. I open each and every Agatha Raisin story with anticipation and the knowledge that I'll be able to get into the story quickly and learn what's been going on in Agatha's life. I haven't been disappointed yet!This story begins with Agatha still in pain over the defection of James Lacey, her husband. He left her to become a monk and so Agatha fills her time with free lance public relations work in London. Upon returning home to the Cotswold's, she finds that Paul Chatterton, a new and handsome gentleman has moved next door. In fact, he's heard of her and her past investigations. They become friendly and Paul proposes that they offer to help an elderly lady from a neighboring village who claims that her home is haunted. Of course, murders do take place and Agatha is spurred on by Paul to keep investigating.As Agatha starts dreaming of having a relationship with Paul, her old friend Sir Charles comes to visit and insinuates to Paul, that Agatha is his girlfriend. Paul seems annoyed and maybe a little jealous, he backs off and and starts to investigate on his own.Sir Charles is very supportive of Agatha and becomes a kinder friend that he had been in the past. Of course, Aggie, as Sir Charles calls her, helps to solve the mystery of the haunted house, and the book ends with Agatha thinking about starting her own detective agency.

Nothing is more satisfying than a new Agatha Raisin mystery. This latest in the series is totally enjoyable. In this book we see Agatha involved in solving a mystery with a new paramour, but this one is apparently married. A new man has moved into James' cottage next door. He approaches Agatha to help lay a ghost to rest in an old cottage in a neighbouring village. Things get going when the woman from this haunted house is found dead a month or so later. Agatha and Paul set out to find a killer. In true Agatha Raisin fashion she bumbles and bosses her way into a solution. What a treat she really is!

After working a free lance public relations job in London for over a month, Agatha Raisin is glad to return to her quaint college in Carsley in England. Still hurting from her divorce, she doesn't even try to get acquainted with her new handsome neighbor Paul Chatterton. One day while she is relaxing in her garden with her two cats, Paul approaches her about investigating a house the owner claims is haunted.Feeling ennui, Agatha agrees to examine the woman's claims but when mist starts appearing in the living room in the middle of the night, Agatha gets scared and runs off. A few days later, the woman is found dead and when Paul and Agatha attend the inquest, they learn she was murdered. Paul eggs Agatha into snooping around with him and they quickly find out that the woman had a lot of enemies including her own children. Yet when a suspect is arrested, Agatha thinks the police have the wrong person and starts digging deeper and in the process almost gets killed by a very determined murderer.Fans of the Agatha Raisin mysteries will understand why they are so addictive but first time readers of this series should note that once they are finished with this novel, the reader will want to immediately obtain the complete backlist. The heroine may be contrary, ornery and raunchy but she takes no guff from anyone. She tries to project an image of a hard woman but inside she is vulnerable and lonely which is why readers care so much about her.Harriet Klausner